About this image: The bright elliptical galaxy NGC 4636, located around 52 million light-years from us, is a member of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. Unlike the more ornate spiral galaxies, its light distribution, dominated by the light of old stars, is completely smooth and lacks any major sign of obscuring dust lanes.

The images on this page were produced by the DAGAL network, and can be used free of charge provided acknowledgement is given to "DAGAL, Nik Szymanek, SDSS, and S4G, www.dagalnetwork.eu".